I've been the owner of a 5-month-old Siberian Husky for two weeks now.
Don't worry, I've done plenty of research on the breed and I know they're high-energy, stubborn as a mule, and real escape artists.
My problem is that for the last 2 or 3 days (especially in the evening), my dog goes absolutely crackers; he starts jumping up at me (which I ignore) and ends up biting my arms.
I eventually tell him "no", and then he starts whining, barking at me, and biting even harder. I should mention it doesn't seem like aggression, but more like he's telling me off.
The last time he tried to bite me, I looked him in the eye and grabbed him by the scruff like I was advised to do. It worked for two days, but now he couldn't care less and just carries on.
What should I do? I'm torn between positive reinforcement, which just seems to amuse him, and a firmer approach, which seems to frustrate him, especially as my goal is to stop him from becoming dominant and aggressive.
Translated from French
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Well, I’m having the same problem. Mine is a Cane Corso and he’s 6 months old, but for me, it’s when I take him out on my own or when I’m home alone that he starts biting me. The last time it happened, he bit my leg and I don’t think it was just playing at all because I actually fell over and it properly hurt. He doesn’t do anything with my mum, but as soon as I’m alone with him, I don’t know why he does it. If he’s still like this when he’s a year old, I’m done for, so please, can someone help me?
Hi, I’m also having this issue with my puppy who nips really hard despite the "stops", the "ouches" and ending playtime... he lunges at our arm (to play) just like he would at a toy... Except when we give him the toy instead, he couldn’t care less... so we ignore him... when we ignore him he stops, but we can’t manage to play with him for more than a few seconds before we have to ignore him because it really hurts... This post is a bit old now, but I’d like to know if things have improved (I hope so!!) and how long it took? What advice can you give me? Thanks in advance!
Hi everyone,
I got a Pomeranian puppy ten days ago and he’ll be three months old in two days. He’s absolutely lovely, but when he plays, he really hurts me – he nips my arms, feet and legs, and I’ve got scratches and little bite marks all over. I make sure to spend time playing with him every evening, but he immediately starts biting me relentlessly. He does it to everyone as soon as he gets overexcited. Every time he does it, I give him a toy instead, but he just goes straight back to biting every single time.
Does anyone have any advice?
Thanks
What if you took a long, hard look at your own behaviour? It’s as simple as that. All puppies nip; I think there are plenty of people on this forum who repeat themselves until they’re blue in the face explaining how to handle it, the why and the how... It’s your approach that’s wrong—yours, not the puppy’s. He’s only following the lead you give him. When you grab a puppy by the scruff of the neck, when you punish him because of your own inexperience, you’re essentially mistreating him...
How can I make him understand which behaviour is bothering us without frustrating him or making him feel rejected?
By introducing a form of negative cue. The simplest way would be to just use the word 'no'.
Negative cues can and should be taught positively, to avoid as much frustration and as many feelings of rejection as possible.
Hi everyone, I’ve tried @blingbling's method and things have improved since. Instead of saying 'ouch', I say 'stop', and he’s finally realised that a bit of gentle mouthing is fine, but if it’s too much, I say 'stop' and give him a telling off. He’s got much better control over his bite pressure now and is doing it less and less.
Hi, I’m having the same issue, except she does it to my wife and daughter. She doesn’t do it to me if I tell her to stop. Now my daughter (especially) is starting to get scared of the dog – she’s a 6-month-old Mastiff that we’ve had since she was two and a half months old??
Hi everyone, I've tried @blingbling's method and things have been much better since then. Instead of saying "ouch", I tell him "stop", and he’s finally understood that a bit of gentle mouthing is fine, but if he goes too far, I say "stop" and he gets a telling-off. He’s controlling his strength much better now and is doing it less and less.
Hi @Befa7, here’s a little tip to help with the nipping that’s been tried and tested by my two dogs.
Whenever mine used to nip me, I’d just ignore him. If he kept at it, I’d give him a chew toy instead, and as soon as he took it in his mouth, I’d give him plenty of praise. Within a week or two, he much preferred chewing his toy than my hands! ;)
It’s not actual biting, it’s just mouthing.
And it’s actually a necessary part of being a puppy.
They need to play to develop properly, and you’ve got to help them while they’re teething.
You can let them mouth you, but you absolutely have to teach them bite inhibition. Saying a sharp "ouch!" works wonders, followed by stopping the game immediately. Then you can start playing again once they’ve backed off.
Personally, I still enjoy a bit of roughhousing with my eighteen-month-old Bouvier.
If you’d rather they didn’t mouth you at all, you need to provide other activities to keep those jaws busy. Give them chew toys, let them play with other dogs...
